cleanse me of my sins
by Immoroita
Summary: his lips taste like betrayal, and hatred, and all the wrong things. helgasalazar, written for sangkar's one word prompt challenge.


**Author's Note: **This was written for the lovely and brilliant sangkar's one-word prompt challenge. The word she gave me was 'cleanse'. At first, my mind jumped to a fic about so-and-so from the Dark Side moving over to the Light Side, but then I realized that that was cliché and stupid and that I'd forget about it. Finally I scrabbled around and found the Helga/Salazar pairing – and I instantly fell in love. Enjoy! :)

**Pairing: **Helga Hufflepuff/Salazar Slytherin

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **his lips taste like betrayal, and hatred, and all the wrong things. helgasalazar, written for sangkar's one word prompt challenge.

/

"_My father was a horrible person. He never really care for me or siblings, and he was a tyrant who used his influence in the Ministry of Magic to do wicked, wicked things. Helga, Rowena, Godric... my dearest friends.  
Please, promise me. If I ever become a tyrant, please, end my life, and cleanse me of my sins."_

"_I – if this is truly what you want, then... You have my word. Hear this: Godric Gryffindor promises to honor your wish. Rowena, write it down so that it may be preserve for ever!"_

"Oh, _Godric. Melodramatic to the end. As for myself, I'm not sure if I am able to end one's life, especially one with so much in common with I, but... I promise. Helga? Will you?"_

"_... I will, Salazar. I will."_

"_Thank you, friends."_

_/_

"_Salazar! Please, Salazar, come back!"_

"_Be quiet, Helga! You know not the injustice I have faced!"_

"_I – but I – Salazar, please!"_

"_You and your poor excuse for a House! Hufflepuff House is full of traitors and Mudbloods, and people unworthy of being in the other Houses. Rowena has intelligence. Godric has bravery. I have cunning. While you? What do you have? Loyalty! Hah! Loyalty! That is equal to nothing! Nothing, Helga! Nothing!"_

_/_

"You left me, Salazar, all those years ago! You left me here to rot!"The hateful words, dripping with malice and disgust, fall from the golden-haired woman's equally golden tongue, lashing out like a whip at the man that stands before her. Rain cascades down her shoulders as tears fall at the same time – although whether they are tears of anger or tears of joy, she cannot tell.

A wand of ashwood is pointed at the man, held by a pale, shaking hand. "I – I can't even look at you right now!"she spits, her voice high and hysterical, squeezing her eyes closed. "I – I just – I just –" A yellow beam of light shoots out of her wand, and quicker than the eye can see Salazar whips out his own wand and deflects it.

"Helga!" he shouts, trying to get closer to her, but she stabs the wand at him like a murderer into a victim, daring him to take a step forward. "Helga!" he repeats. "I am sorry for that blow I dealt to you as I was leaving! I returned because I thought you wouldn't scorn me, as Rowena and Godric did when I tried to speak to them, tried to make up for my mistakes."

"Godric!" Helga laughs mechanically, her laugh as cold and hard as iron. "You two and your pureblood mania! It was only until Rowena spoke to him that he decided to allow all blood types into Hogwarts! You, though, Salazar, would not rest until only purebloods remained. You tried to wipe them all out with your basilisk, which was going to, effectively, wipe out the Hufflepuff House that I had struggled so long to establish. Sorry, my foot!" And she stamps the aforementioned foot.

"My basilisk is long gone from the halls of Hogwarts," the disheveled man says, choosing his words carefully, and falls to his knees with a groan as Helga points her wand at him forcefully. His wand falls to the ground with a dull splash. "Helga..."

"I thought you'd never return," the woman says, and suddenly her voice is filled with not anger, but weary sorrow. "I waited for you, Salazar. Countless nights I looked out the window and waited for your familiar shape to come staggering out of the forest. You never came, though, and I finally gave up. Why wait, Salazar? Why wait thirty years before returning to this place? Returning to _me?"_

He gazes up at her, with eyes as black as midnight and deep as pools, and does not answer. The anger returns to Helga, and her entire form shakes in indignation and fury. "Fine, then! Leave, again, and _never _return! See if I care!"

"Helga."

His voice is quieter and filled with something that she's never heard before. "Please, Helga. Forgive me. I have been a terrible, terrible person. Please, Helga... cleanse me of my sins."

A rushing memory. A whirling daydream. A sensation fills her as she remembers that conversation, so long ago.

"_I will, Salazar. I will."_

Helga dips her head and closes her eyes, tears still cascading down her face, and finally opens her eyes, not daring to look at him. "I made a promise, Salazar. And now I shall honor it."

The words _Avada Kedavra _haunt her for the rest of her life.

**FIN.**


End file.
